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As virtualization vendor VMware continues to be a leader, it emphasizes that its role is now expanding. Will competitors have an answer?

SAN FRANCISCO  VMware CEO Paul Maritz had a clear message for anyone confused about what his company does. "We long ceased being a hypervisor company. If you want one for free, we have one. We make our money on data center automation," Maritz said during a press Q&A following his keynote here at the company's VMworld conference.

That broader vision of the role of virtualization in the enterprise and what VMware (NYSE: VMW) called IT as a Service, was a key theme addressed by Maritz and other VMware executives during the keynote session that also included several related new product announcements and an R&D effort called Project Horizon.

Among those new products is VMware View 4.5 desktop management software designed to let enterprise users access cloud-based applications and services on a broad range of devices both inside and outside the enterprise. VMware View 4.5 uses PC-over-IP technology to give users a virtual desktop via a LAN or WAN connection as well as a "Local Mode" that enables secure offline access using local processing, e.g. working on a notebook computer in an airplane without Wi-Fi.